NEC says fiscal 2004 profit will fall 45 percent

TOKYO  NEC Electronics of Japan has trimmed its business forecast for the 2004 fiscal year ending March to sales of 710 billion yen ($6.89 billion), slightly under fiscal 2003, and an operating profit of 33 billion yen ($320 million), nearly half that of fiscal 2003.

Despise efforts in sales promotion and internal cost reductions, NEC concluded it would be difficult to overcome the sluggish market and decided to downgrade its October forecast, which projected 5 percent higher sales and a 9 percent lower profit. The company now expects sales to fall 0.3 percent and operating profit decline 45 percent.